The top of my list goes to:

William H. Macy in "Fargo."

His character reflected the frustrations of all humans in a tight and uncomfortable situation. Okay, not all of us would have done what he did to put himself in that situation, but the same kind of stress applies.

I believed his performance, and more than deserved to get an Oscar-nomination for best supporting actor in 1996.

Al Pacino - Dog Day Afternoon

Robert De Niro- it's a tie between The Godfather Part2 (almost all his lines were in Italian) Raging Bull ( might be the greatest performance ever)

Russel Crowe in A Beautiful Mind
Alec Baldwin in Heaven's Prisoners
Bill Pullman in ID4
Ashley Judd in Double Jeopardy
Tom Hanks in The Green Mile
Pierce Brosnan in The Thomas Crown Affair
John Cusack in Say Anything
Charlie Sheen in Cadence
Kevin Spacey tie between The Negotiator and Pay It Forward
Samuel L Jackson in The Negotiator

Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice. I've never seen anybody, before or since, lose themselves so completely in a part.

James Gandolfini - The Sopranos Best....acting.....ever.


Runners up:

Denzel Washington - Training Day
Sam Jackson - Pulp Fiction
Christopher Walken - King of New York

Russell Crowe will be hard-pressed to top his performance in Michael Mann's The Insider, imo.

Quite possibly the best character in the history of either television or film...precisely because Ganolfini's acting is so dynamic and his ability to convey so much with such subtle facial expressions. Simply amazing to watch.

Russell Crowe for The Insider,L.A Confidental and A Beatiful Mind
Tom Hanks for The Green Mile

Peter Sellers as Mandrake,Muffley,and Das Doktor in DR. STRANGELOVE.

Wow, opinions do vary. I consider this to be one of the more unbelievable roles (in a bad way) in recent film history, in large part because of Pullman's performance.

I am a pretty big fan of his, btw, but not in ID4. Of course, the film is pretty dreadful with or without him.

Pullman is outstanding in The Accidental Tourist.

I don't think this measures up to the "best ever" category, even among Hanks performances, but I am in awe of his triumphant scene in the bathroom. Terrific facial acting there.

Still to this day, I think my favorite Brosnan film performance was in The Fourth Protocol.

I tend to agree. Silkwood also deserves mention in a discussion about great Streep work.

Yes. One of my favorite movies ever simply because of Crowe's performance.

Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream.

Let's see, off the top of my head , here's a few 'supporting' or 'star' performaces that were pretty darn stellar.....

Robert DeNiro- GoodFellas. Yeah , Pesci got the Oscar (deservedly so), but this is a truly great performance. Bob was' in 'the groove' fer sure.
John C Reilly- Magnolia.....just watch it again for Reilly.
Peter Sellers-Dr. Strangelove. ......... a highly entertaining performance in triplicate.
Billy Bob Thornton- Slingblade. ....... Billy Bob has some chops.
Chris Walken -True Romance......An incendiary blast. He's in a vendetta kind of mood....
Ed Norton- American History X..... I might also throw in 'Primal Fear'.

Renee Falconetti in "The Passion of Joan of Arc"

and, more recently, Isabelle Huppert in anything she does, but especially for "The Piano Teacher". Gosh, that is one truly unparalleled acting.

Ben Kingsley in Gandhi

1. Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

2. Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice.

*Kevin Spacey - American Beauty
*Jack Lemmon - Glengarry Glen Ross

Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront
Dustin Hoffman - Midnight Cowboy

Anthony Hopkins- Silence of the lambs

Jody Foster- Silence of the lambs

Jack Nicholson - "Five Easy Pieces"

You got to know the man - got to know that he doesn't have a clue as to what he wants or where he's destined to go. He's got a temper, but he's also got a slight conscience. He's working hard at killing his conscience, and by the end of the movie, you can see he's gotten the better of his conscience as the end credits silencely read up the screen.

Kind of left me speechless at the end. I never thought he could have done it.

Too bad the movie was a piece of trash. The book is way better.


Jack Nicholson - Five Easy Pieces or Carnal Knowledge
Dustin Hoffman - The Graduate
Bob Hoskins - Mona Lisa

Julia Roberts - Erin Brockovich

Sally Field in Steel Magnolias
The speech at the graveside is amazing. I can not sit through this scene without crying.

Thank you Father Merrin for pointing out Ed Norton. I second both of those.

How 'bout Kevin Spacey in Usual Suspects?
For me, George Clooney will never top From Dusk till Dawn. He's done a PHENOMENAL job of trying, though. It's the first thing I really noticed him in. LOVE that movie. He nearly tied it with Out of Sight and Ocean's 11.
So far haven't seen a better performance for Matt Damon than Rounders, wait, take that back, DOGMA is Damon's best movie.
Jason Lee's best performance, for me, will always be Brodie Bruce from Mallrats. His signature character.